Report
of the World Players’ Council to the 72nd FIDE Congress
The
World Palyers’ Council had celebrated several meetings in the course of the
year 2001 (San Petersburg, El Escorial, Beijing). It’s a matter of special
pride for us that the Council has gradually grown into a veritable
“international think tank” uniting both the intellectual elite of
professional players and a great number of dedicated amateurs from all over the
world. A great educational job is being done on Internet: to our permanent
address http://w.p.c.tripod.com we are
planning soon to add a new site http://www.cyberwpc.com
which is currently being developed by our US filial members.
Since
March 2001 a weekly Internet Russian-language magazine “Chess Satyricon”
http://home.att.net/~satiricon/home.html
is being published under the auspices of the WPC. It wouldn’t be exaggeration
to claim that it is the first entirely independent, non-commercial, non-partisan
chess-political weekly in chess history - done by the players and for the
players. Our editorial team consists of the best chess writers of the moment
guided by the sole objective of providing the lovers of our game with truthful
unbiased information on the most important chess events. All of them deserve the
highest praise for their arduous selfless efforts. While the vast majority of
other chess publications like “New in Chess”, “Jaque”, “Gambito”,
“Inside Chess”, “64”, “TWIC”, “Kasparovchess” and so on, -
all depend on some obscure sources of financing and therefore their
editors work under obligation to advance certain political agendas (often
unsavoury, ignoble and uncouth), our staff is only concerned with shedding
the light of truth on the matters otherwise ignored by the “professional
journalists”. Needless to say, the gratitude of our readers is by itself the
best remuneration for these disinterested efforts.
We
would like further to draw attention of the delegates of the 72nd
FIDE Congress to the following issues of importance:
1.
FIDE World Cup series;
2.
European Championships – 2001;
3.
Rapid rating list;
4.
Anti-democratic attitude of certain chess journalists;
5.
The New Chess Guild at the Top Level – KKK;
6.
Unfounded pretensions of Vladimir Kramnik to the title of the World
Champion;
7.
Fraudulent financial practices of the US Chess Federation.
1)
At the beginning of the year at the request of the FIDE President the WPC
had developed a system of Grand Prix points calculation that provided FIDE with
a realistic opportunity to launch its Grand Prix Series already in 2001. It was
a highly democratic system, open to every player in the world, not requiring any
additional financial investment on the part of FIDE. It counted with personal
approval of the World Champion Anand and vice-Champion Shirov. It is with utmost
regret that we have to inform the delegates that this system was plainly
rejected by Mr.Artem Tarasov who acted on this occasion on behalf of the Octagon
Company.
2)
European Championships in Warsaw (women) and Ohrid (men) were a welcome
addition to the international chess calendar. However the organization of both
events was subjected to well-grounded criticism by some of the
participants. We have received several complaints concerning the boarding costs,
which had been elevated to such a level (over 100 DM per day) that forced a
number of qualified players to cancel their participation. We strongly recommend
to the European Chess Union to reconsider its organizational policy in this
respect in order to guarantee cheaper room rates for the players from
poorer countries who do not dispose of means ample enough to endure so high
tournament expenses. It is also our deep conviction that the clause
limiting the number of the players from the same country (by 20) should be
abolished as a clear discrimination against traditionally strong chess
federations. Let’s not forget that these are the OPEN tournaments. Finally,
the choice of Macedonia as the venue of the men’s event clearly didn’t take
into account the aggressive external policy of the USA that destabilized the
political situation on the Balkans to the extent that made a trip there
hazardous for the very security of the peace-loving players (http://www.clubkasparov.ru/site/rev/polemic/art18.htm
).
3)
We
would like to attract your attention to some irregularities in the last FIDE
Rapid Rating List. For some incomprehensible reasons it did not incorporate
the results of the traditional open rapid tournament in Boadilla del Monte
(Colegio Mirabal), won by the World Champion Viswanathan Anand. Here are the
explanations offered on the FIDE website by Mr.Willy Iclicky, responsible
for the committed ‘mistake’:
5th Rapid Rating List
Dear friends,
I'm releasing now the 5th rapid rating list
which includes some interesting tournaments like Cannes, Mainz, Monaco, Zurich,
Tallinn, European tie-breaks and some interesting national championships and
private tournaments or matches.
Despite a loss of four points, M.Adams managed
to keep his first place thanks to an impressive comeback in Mainz. V.Anand
lost his second place to G.Kasparov due to an inadequate result in Monaco (I'm
sorry for him but I never got the final cross table of Marabal tournament
(Spain) which he won. Did this result cost him the first place?)…<
The
statement of Mr.Iclicky is not substantiated by the facts. We have received a
declaration of Juan Carlos Ruiz, director of the website “Hechiceros del
tablero” (www.hechiceros.net ) who
had personally sent the final cross table of the IV Mirabal Tournament to
Mr.Iclicky (immediately upon its termination) and even was thanked by him
for doing so (see the picture):
>Juan Carlos Ruiz,
director de la web Hechiceros del tablero (www.hechiceros.net) declara que Mr.
Iclicki le escribió pidiéndole la tabla cruzada del IV Torneo Internacional
Mirabal, a efectos de calcular el Elo de ajedrez rápido. La tabla cruzada le
fue enviada inmediatamente, recibiendo las gracias del interesado. Incluso pocos
días después, Mr. Iclicki volvió a escribir enviando información sobre el
Grand Prix de ajedrez rápido.
Mr. Iclicki no sólo
recibió la tabla cruzada del torneo ganado por Viswanathan Anand, sino que
confirmó la recepción de los datos solicitados. Además, tal información ha
estado publicada en www.hechiceros.net desde el día que finalizó el torneo,
existiendo link a la misma desde páginas web como el mismo TWIC.
Juan Carlos Ruiz
17-8-2001<
4)
Another complaint has reached us from the United States. The letter below deals
with aggressively racist attitude of some of the professional journalists
who happen to be, besides, sworn enemies to FIDE and to the democratic
ideals it represents in the world of chess.
Here is my
complaint. During Wijk aan Zee (2001 edition) tournament, TWIC was publishing
daily reports. In one of them there were some "Unpublishable", "uncouth"
remarks by Mr. Henderson, who was providing the reports for TWIC.
2.
If Mr. Henderson refuses, then the article must be removed from the public site
TWIC, and Mr. Henderson be fired.
After all we are talking about Chess, a Mind and
Intellectual sport and not some WWF wrestling match for the mentally challenged!
-Srini Ramiah<
Our
firm commitment to the democratic ideals fills us with optimism in regard to the
future developments. We hope that the delegates of the Congress will not fail to
follow the footsteps of YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association), WCC (World
Council of Churches) and the UNO (United Nations Organization) in their resolute
condemnation of the traditional enemies of the freedom of speech.
5)
The
Guild at the Top Level
was born on April 20, 2001. Messrs. Karpov, Kasparov and Kramnik had
successfully overcome their feuds of yore to address in a letter “the world
chess community”. The threesome has openly united in the face of their
common enemy: the democratic tendencies in the world of chess. We leave
without further comments this letter, as it has already been answered by a group
of chess players on behalf of the World Players’ Council (http://ajedrez_democratico.tripod.com/WPC-vs-KKK.htm
).
6)
We would like to re-iterate once again our deepest regret in view of the
unabating attempts of Vladimir Kramnik to auto-proclaim himself a “World Chess
Champion” whereas the legitimacy of his claims do not stand to the slightest
scrutiny. Let’s never allow to pass into oblivion the fact that he has lost
even qualification match on the way to this so-called “ World Championship”.
The lamentable support to his claims from the hard-core anti-democratic faction
of the chess journalists is yet another indication of their utter contempt
for the notions of common sense, legality and the most elementary principles of
human decency. At the same time, FIDE should also be more active and
consistent in its public relations campaign. The members of our organization
have a strong impression that a number of FIDE’s representatives are
continuously playing the double game to the great detriment to its prestige,
reputation and credibility and therefore cause a great damage to the interests
of the professional players. (See the clause 3 of this report) We do not think
to leave it at that and will continue our ethical cleansing in the world
of professional chess.
The
good news is that the nefarious Braingames Network event in London (2000) has at
last aroused interest of the British Police. Hopefully the tricksters will have
finally to pay for their swindling. A lawsuit was also filed in Spain against D.
Luis Rentero as financially responsible President of the WCC (World Chess
Council), the heir to the PCA and the predecessor of the BGN.
7)
Let me inform you, dear delegates, on a more personal note, about my
grievances in the hands of the US Chess Federation and its filial company
GamesParlor, Inc. In August 2000 I had a pleasure of giving an online conference
to the USCF members, which was only one of the activities within the framework
of an ambitious Internet project under the auspices of the USCF. During the
Olympiad in Istanbul (November 2000) I was paid by cheque (signed by Ms. Amy
Sullivan) a sum of $1.000 for the said conference. An attempt to cash the cheque
in Spain had, however, backfired on me. The cheque was turned back as the result
of insufficient funds on the corresponding account (with all due expenses
charged to my own account).
In
his passionate diatribe against FIDE last year GM Yasser Seirawan had
caustically observed that giving away bouncing cheques (a crime incurred by
Mr.Israel Gelfer in Las Vegas 1999) constituted grave criminal offence in the
United States. Do we have to assume that the criminals are ruling the USCF and
its filial organizations? I hope - not.
In
the mid-January 2001, following the advice of Ms. Barbara deMaro, I had
contacted by email Ms. Amy Sullivan, who immediately promised me to resolve the
problem within a few days. One month later, with still no news from the USA, I
had contacted her again but this time received no reply at all. Up to the moment
I have yet not received any payment. Has the USCF gone bankrupt?
Perhaps
this whole affair might be considered not serious enough to bring it to the
attention of the General Assembly if it were not for the fact that it perfectly
reflects on the general climate in the world of chess nowadays. The principle
guilt for this falls at those journalists who by their continuous lies,
demagoguery and utter contempt for the basic rights of the professional players
make it all but impossible for us to aspire after just and even-handed treatment
by bureaucrats of all levels. Alas, I’m forced to admit that part of the guilt
lies with the GMs like Kasparov, Kramnik, Gulko and my good friend Yasser. We
still have a long road ahead of us.
Wishing
you a lot of success in your work in Halkidiki,
GM
Valery Salov,
World Players’ Council, President
September
2, 2001, Madrid